Fey 02 - Changeling (38 page)

Jewel was heavy in Rugar's arms.
 
Her entire body was limp. "If someone takes her," he said, "I can make a Shadowlands."

"No," the Shaman said.
 
"It must be a real place."

"The Settlement," Burden said.

"No," Nicholas said.
 
"The kitchens."
 
He pushed past Rugar, his hand brushing against Jewel's face.
 
She did not respond.
 
At least she wasn't changing.
 
At least she wasn't melting.
 

"Quickly," the Shaman said.
 

They ran through the corridor, Nicholas in the lead.
 
The skirts of his robe left trails of wet along the floor.
 
Jewel's arms fell free and were bouncing against Rugar's legs.
 
She felt too heavy.

His daughter.

His fearless daughter.

"Burden," the Shaman said as she ran beside them.
 
"Mend is outside the gate with some of the healers. Tell them I want a poultice of redwort and garlic, and tell them I will need an assistant."

"I will assist."
 
Solanda spoke from the floor.
 
She was in her cat form.
 
"Tell them they do not need to risk their lives to come into this place."

Nicholas's back was to her, so he didn't see her.
 
His crown was gone and his hair flowed freely.
 
"The kitchens will be safe.
 
If anyone looks for Jewel in the palace, they will look upstairs.
 
I have help in the kitchens."

Rugar wondered at that.
 
No man had help in such places.
 
"It better be close," he said.
 
"She isn't moving."

No one responded.
 
His daughter didn't make a sound.
 
The babe within her pushed against Rugar's chest.
 
He hadn't even known she was with child.
 

Nicholas led them through stone arches into a dark passageway.
 
Suddenly Rugar felt foolish following this man.
 

"This had better be a safe place," Rugar said.
 
"Any attacks and —"

"And what?" the Shaman asked.
 
"We are here because of you.
 
Allow the boy his grief over his wife."

"Me?"
 
Rugar's surprise almost made him stop.
 
"I did not harm Jewel.
 
I didn't even touch her."

"I warned you," the Shaman said.
 
"I told you to allow her to make peace, but you did not.
 
You did not, Rugar. It is your darkness that leads us all here."

The passageway smelled of roast pheasant and baking breads.
 
Nicholas was leading them to the kitchen.
 
In side rooms, men worked, churning butter, pounding bread dough.
 
Voices rose from a brightly lit front area.
 

"You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?" Rugar asked.
 
He pulled Jewel closer.
 
He couldn't see her in the darkness.
 
"Tell me how this is going to end."

"I cannot do that," the Shaman said.

"Visionaries can tell each other —"

"Rugar, I had three Visions about this day."

Despite himself he shuddered.
 
Three Visions.
 
The outcome was in doubt then.
 
Jewel had seen this moment as well.
 
And little Gift.
 

Only Rugar had been Blind.

As they emerged through another set of arches, Nicholas was already speaking.
 
"We need a clear area near the hearth fire, and a mattress for my wife.
 
I want all non-essential personnel to leave.
 
Anyone who stays must obey the Fey's Shaman."

Islanders, men and women, scattered. Rugar got an impression of square, pale faces, blue eyes glancing at Jewel.
 
She smelled of burning flesh.
 
Many Islanders covered their mouths as they turned away.

Nicholas led them to a great stone fireplace where a large fire roared.
 
Kettles hung from iron hooks in the fire, and near the side of the fireplace were more hooks that allowed servants to take the kettles out.
 
A man in a white uniform swept the floor near the fire, and a woman hurried in, carrying a feather mattress that looked none too clean.

Rugar didn't care.
 
He placed his daughter on it.
 
Her skull was almost flat, her hair plastered against her head, and the puckering on her forehead had traveled to her eyebrows.
 
"The poison is still working," he said.

"I know."
 
The Shaman bent over her.
 
"Someone go to the door and wait for Burden and the poultice.
 
I need her awake."

Nicholas was standing near the man in white.
 
"Get my son and bring him here.
 
I want him safe."

"Sire, I am not supposed to leave the kitchen."

"Get him," Nicholas said.
 
"Now."

The man nodded and ran from the room.
 
Jewel's stomach was bobbing like the surface of an ocean.
 
Rugar put a hand on it, and the Shaman snatched his hand away.

"You have caused enough trouble for one lifetime.
 
Stand back."

"She's my daughter," Rugar said.

"You should have thought of that before you brought her to this place."

He wasn't certain if the Shaman meant the kitchen, the palace, or the Isle itself.
 
But he backed away.
 
He had no choice.
 
No one had ever lived through this poison.
 
The Warders had said that it could be diluted, but Rugar wasn't certain if the dilution slowed down death or prevented it.

Burden came in from the back door.
 
The poultice he carried overpowered the smell of roast pheasant.
 
He handed it to the Shaman, who slapped it on Jewel's forehead.

"Is she going to be all right?" Burden asked.

"She'll live for the moment," the Shaman said.
 
"I can promise nothing more."

She bent over Jewel, then reached out her hand.
 
"Rugar, I need your cloak." When he didn't move, she looked up at him.
 
"It is a healing cloak, is it not?
 
I need it now."

He had forgotten the healing properties.
 
It had been given to him by his father before he went into his first battle.
 
His fingers fumbled as he untied the strings around his throat.
 
He pulled the cloak off and handed it to the Shaman, who placed it over Jewel.

"Jewel," the Shaman said.
 
"You must wake.
 
You must talk to me."

Nicholas hovered over her, his wet robe dripping on the dry floor.
 
One of the servants offered to take the robe but he shook his head.
 
His gaze never left Jewel.

The Shaman got on her knees beside Jewel.
 
She put a finger in Jewel's slack mouth.
 
"Jewel, you must wake."

Jewel's eyelids fluttered.

"Thank God," Nicholas murmured and dropped beside her.
 

"Stay back," the Shaman said.

Rugar crossed his arms and clenched his fists.
 
He could do nothing.
 
The Shaman at least had access to Domestic medicine as well as her Visions.
 
He had no powers besides his Vision, and it had failed him.

It had failed Jewel.

"Jewel," the Shaman said.
 
"Tell me about the child."

Jewel's eyes opened and for a moment, they were as empty as the stone's.
 
Then she came into them, small and distant.
 
"The baby.
 
Take her.
 
You have to take her.
 
She's the future …"

Jewel's voice faded away.
 
Her eyes closed.
 
The Shaman nodded at Burden.

"I need Mend.
 
I don't care about her fears.
 
I need all the healers outside the gate."

Nicholas was touching Jewel's face.
 
"Jewel," he said.
 
Then in Islander, "I'm sorry.
 
I'm so sorry."

"You didn't hurt her, boy," the Shaman said.
 
"Now get back and let me help her."

Jewel's eyes opened.
 
She smiled at Nicholas.
 
She lifted her hand as if it took a great effort, and took his.
 
Then she closed her eyes again.

The man Nicholas had sent for the stone had come into the kitchen, followed by the woman.
  
She had the stone in her arms.
 
It was sobbing hard now, cracks forming on its all-too-human face.

The Shaman looked up, then looked at Rugar.
 
Her mouth was open slightly, her eyes wide with shock.
 
He felt momentarily vindicated.
 
Not even the Great Shaman of the Fey Division One Saw everything.

"What did you do?" she asked.
 
"In the name of the Powers, the Mysteries, and all we hold dear, what did you do?"

Nicholas looked up in surprise.
 
Rugar backed away from the Shaman's words.
 
"I guaranteed our safety," he said.

"You fool!"
 
The Shaman's voice held panic.
 
He had never heard her panic before.
 
"I can't save all three."

"You don't have to.
 
Gift is in Shadowlands.
 
This is a stone —"

"No," the Shaman said.
 
"Don't you know what you've done?
 
The boy is part of her."

"But she's part of me, and I'm fine."

"She's an adult.
 
He's a child.
 
A half-breed with no support." The Shaman closed her eyes and keened.
 
The sound stopped all conversation in the kitchen.
 
Nicholas glanced at Rugar, the fear in his face palpable.
 
Only the stone didn't seem to notice.
 
It kept crying as if its heart would break.

Rugar looked at the stone.
 
Of course it was cracking.
 
It only lived because of Jewel.
 
Then he remembered its eyes.
 
He had seen something alive in its eyes.
 
Alive and distant.

Were you there, Gift?

Yes.
 
I saw it all.

"You have to save the boy," Rugar said.

"He's too far away."
 
The Shaman opened her eyes, and brushed the damaged skin on Jewel's forehead.
 
"I doubt I can save anyone now."